We finally have a Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom version for the PC, hooray! The platform game developed by Game Atelier came out at the end of last year for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game is a followup to developer SAGA’s Wonder Boy series and resembles Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap in a lot of ways. Let’s discover this new and improved version! (I am excited)
What do you do? A blue-haired boy named Jin discovers his drunk uncle Nabu is using magic to spread chaos across the kingdom, turning everyone, including his brother Zeke, into animals. While trying to stop Nabu, Jin gets turned into a pig. Learning from the king’s court magician, Mysticat, about a way to return everyone to normal, Jin goes on a quest to recover five animal orbs from across the kingdom.
- Gameplay: The main thing about this game, namely the gameplay, is terrific. While the story is mostly linear, there are tons of secret parts, puzzles and a big map to explore. There’s a ton of challenge included as well. Some parts are easy, some parts are more difficult. Figuring everything out is part of the fun. I also enjoyed the enemy killing part a lot. Enemies can offer various awards, including life points. This came in very handy for me, holy shit. Sometimes I sucked so bad, but those rewarding life points really helped me a lot throughout the game. There’s also equipment that can be gained, which allows you to discover new things. For example, there are these boots that make you super heavy so you can go to the bottom of the water.
- Transformations: Okay, so the super duper cool thing is that our blue-haired boy Jin can transform into several animals! Of course, this isn’t the case in the beginning. The first transformation you ‘unlock’ is a pig. I mean, your uncle turns you into a pig but still, cool cool. The other transformations are a snake, frog, lion and even a dragon! Every form has different abilities and strengths as well, helping you move forward in the game. Sometimes you have to use some quick thinking and switch between these forms to overcome obstacles. This is honestly amazing!
- Graphics: You’ll definitely be enjoying the surroundings while playing. The beautiful hand-drawn art style got me amazed several times. Both Jin and all the characters in the kingdom look brilliant and meeting every single one of them was a real pleasure. The amount of detail that was put into the visuals was also astonishing. There are also some cutscenes, which is something I don’t always enjoy. Monster Boy is one of the games where I did enjoy it. Even in the beginning, when the game is launching, you get a short video with a song, and it reminded me of Pokémon somehow. Either way, it was adorable.
- Soundtrack: Okay so since I just mentioned the song from the beginning of the game, let’s discuss the music in this game. I immediately fell in love with the sounds used in this game. There’s something there for the fans that are already familiar with Monster Boy and something new.
- Storyline: Okay so the blue-haired boy is super cute and him going after his drunk uncle who is spreading chaos got me excited. It’s just a simple yet fun concept. But that’s where it ends. The story turns out to be nothing special and except for a few moments where things feel interested, it didn’t really do anything for me.
- I got nothing: Honestly, almost everything about this game is simply great and I loved this game a lot. So yeah, I got nothing.
CONCLUSION
Score: 85%
My expectations for Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom were high. Like, higher than I usually have for a game. This was mainly based on images and short videos I saw before testing the game. Were these expectations matched? Hell yes, they were! The overall gameplay including the transformations were so very enjoyable, wow! Besides this, the visuals and music were spot on and I savored every moment. Even though the story wasn’t that special, it honestly barely affected this amazing game. I’m so happy this came to PC as well. If you’re a platformer fan, go for it!
Developer: Game Atelier Publisher: FDG Entertainment
Played on: PC
Also available on: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Steam game store link: Click here
